Empty "it" (also known as the dummy subject) is a pronoun that has no referent and no meaning, but which is syntactically necessary in order to produce a grammatical sentence. Some examples :
Its raining
Its hot.
Its time to go.
Its already lunchtime.
Its late.
Its a long way to Tipperary.
It wasnt very nice in the hotel.
It makes no sense to ask What is raining? What is late? Whats a long way to Tipperary? etc. These are verbs which have no real subject - but syntactically English demands that one is present. To "fill the gap" the dummy pronoun it is used.
For a list of the uses of the dummy pronoun it, see https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/pronouns/it-and-there
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